“I Didn’t Want Her To Lose”

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday September 4, 2023

Aryna Sabalenka has never been one to shy away from a challenge. Earlier this season, when she was over 4,000 points behind Iga Swiatek in the WTA rankings, she declared her mission: to do the impossible, and overtake the Pole at the top of the WTA rankings.

She had her chance this week at the US Open – all she had to do was match Swiatek’s result to rise to No.1 – and secured the top ranking when Swiatek lost to Jelena Ostapenko in the round of 16 on Sunday night in New York.

It’s a lifelong dream realized for the Belarusian, but it didn’t happen the way Sabalenka wanted. She says she was rooting for Swiatek to win because she wanted to meet her in the final and take matters into her own hands.

“To be honest, I didn’t want her to lose,” Sabalenka told reporters after powering past Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-3 in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night. “I was watching that match and I was just like, C’mon, win it. I was really not sure, but after some of the upsets, I thought she’s probably going to make it to the final.

“I was just thinking I’m going to do everything I can, possible and impossible, to reach the final and decide everything on court.”

Sabalenka said she was sucked in by the Swiatek-Ostapenko encounter on Sunday night, but finally decided it would be better to go to sleep during the third set of Ostapenko’s 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 triumph.

In the morning, she woke up, opened her phone and learned that she would become the WTA’s 29th No.1 in history on Monday September 11.

“Yeah, it was a nice morning to wake up,” she said.

Sabalenka went on to talk about how she respected Swiatek and looked forward to more battles against her in the years to come.

“She’s unbelievable,” she said. “She has been world No. 1 for a long time, most of the weeks I think. Really happy that we have Iga on tour, someone who motivates like me, especially like me, to keep pushing, keep trying, keep improving myself.

“I think that’s the real sport, you know? When you kind of push yourself to the limits and you are trying to get better. I think it’s a normal process when someone changes with another one in the position in the ranking.

“I feel like it’s great that we are playing great this year, we are kind of pushing each other. I really hope we’ll keep doing that and we’ll keep facing each other in the very last stages of the tournaments, we’ll battle against each other – this is what sport…